Zeus by Ken Dowden (Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World)

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Synopsis

The first book to capture a complete picture of the most important of Greek gods in one reliable volume for almost seventy years, this masterly and comprehensive study brings a new-millennium examination of the fascinating god Zeus.

Broad in scope, the book looks at myth, art, cult, philosophy, drama, theology and European painting amongst much more, and allows us to take seriously what it was to worship and respect the greatest of Greek gods, and to live through the aftershock of the Middle Ages and modern times.

Showing the evidence along the way, Zeus is student-friendly and includes:

a range of illustrations and mapstranslated passages from ancient authors a chronology and excellent indexing.

Looking at the ancient Greeks their predecessor and their successors – the Romans and beyond – the book is engagingly written and speaks to a modern audience: this is Zeus from our remote ancestors to Wagner, and into the computer age.

Ken Dowden is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Birmingham. He has written Death and the Maiden: Girl s Initiation Rites in Greek Mythology and The Uses of Greek Mythology, and researches in the areas of religion and the novel.